1992 Sentra: Runs like crap, any ideas?

[bschmitt]

I just bought this sentra a few weeks ago to replace my stolen car and it ran fine. In the past week it started to run like crap. It acts like it's missing and it surges once and a while. Right now, it has a big power loss and smells like it might be running rich. Starts fine, hot and cold. And the condition persists whether hot or cold. When coming to a stop, often it will die or idle like crap. It's the GA16DE engine and I have gone over a few things so far... Checked the MAF, looks ok, tested it using repair manual guidlines (it passed) gave it a new cap and rotor, new plug wires, and a fuel filter. Plugs look fine. No codes pop up and the check engine light has never once came on. And I can't seem to see anything that's largely out of order. Any more ideas? Thanks a bunch.

[MaximA32]

Check fuel delivery problems. Check the fuel filter and see if it's plugged. Sounds like you've covered everything but the fuel side of it. good luck.

[bschmitt]

Hey thanks for replying. I did put in a new fuel filter, but that hasn't seem to have done anything. Although, it was probably due, because the old one I took out had a bunch of junk coming out of it. And the fuel pump seems to work fine. Could it be injectors?

[Twilight sentra tuner]

try checking ur ground cables and grounding points for any wear. that could explain the cut off problem when no codes are popping up.

check out the condition of the electrodes on the spark plugs. they probably just need to be cleaned. hope it works for u.

[bschmitt]

Er, well, it's not cutting out completely, just loses power but still runs. When driving it will surge and sputter under mild load, but give it full throttle and it will gain speed. Sometimes. Other times it won't go anywhere, rpms barely climb. Spark plugs look fine. Normal whiteish brown. I dunno, maybe it's just a little dirty inside. I'm going to try and run some fuel injector cleaner through, see if that does anything. Thanks for your help. You guys are great!

[bschmitt]

Put some cleaner through, did nothing. I'm wondering, could it be my ignition coil? For some reason the coil wire was fried, and there was a big crack from the coil wire to the distributor cap. That's why I replaced the wire and cap, but I am wondering if something went haywire with my coil?